Biology; The Living Science. Prentice Hall, 1998, Miller, Kenneth R and Levine, Joseph.
Subject: Biology
Grade: 10th
Age: 15-16
Target ability levels:?
Chapter title: DNA and RNA
PART 2: UNPACKING A LEARNING GOAL
R.I K-12 Grade Span Expectations in Science. Life Science LS-1 (9-11)-2 Students demonstrate an understanding of the molecular basis for heredity by... 2c describing how DNA contains the code for the production of specific proteins.
1) What does the standard mean?
Cells store and use information to guide their functions. The genetic information stored in DNA is used to direct the synthesis of the thousands of proteins that each cell requires.
In all organisms, the instructions for specifying the characteristics of the organism are carried in DNA, a large polymer formed from subunits of four kinds (A,G,C,and T). The chemical and structural properties of DNA explain how the genetic information that underlies heredity is both encoded in genes (as a string of molecular "letters") and replicated (by a templating mechanism). Each DNA molecule in a cell forms a single chromosome.
2) What prior knowledge do students need to understand the standard?
• need to understand cell division and know about the cell cycle
• need to be familiar with the concept of genetics: genes, chromosomes, mitosis, meiosis
• need to be familiar with the concept of inheritance and Mendel's principles of genetics (ex: many human traits are inherited by the action of genes that have dominant and recessive alleles).
3) What misconceptions might students hold about the topic?
• students don't understand how a genetic change can result in a phenotypic change at the protein level
• students rarely understand the importance and prevalence of protein in cells; don't understand that proteins "get made" from DNA
• don't understand the relationship between DNA, genes, and chromosomes
PART 1: MATERIALS BEING EVALUATED
Biology; The Living Science. Prentice Hall, 1998, Miller, Kenneth R and Levine, Joseph.
Subject: Biology
Grade: 10th
Age: 15-16
Target ability levels:?
Chapter title: DNA and RNA
PART 2: UNPACKING A LEARNING GOAL
R.I K-12 Grade Span Expectations in Science. Life Science
LS-1 (9-11)-2 Students demonstrate an understanding of the molecular basis for heredity by...
2c describing how DNA contains the code for the production of specific proteins.
1) What does the standard mean?
Cells store and use information to guide their functions. The genetic information stored in DNA is used to direct the synthesis of the thousands of proteins that each cell requires.
In all organisms, the instructions for specifying the characteristics of the organism are carried in DNA, a large polymer formed from subunits of four kinds (A,G,C,and T). The chemical and structural properties of DNA explain how the genetic information that underlies heredity is both encoded in genes (as a string of molecular "letters") and replicated (by a templating mechanism). Each DNA molecule in a cell forms a single chromosome.
2) What prior knowledge do students need to understand the standard?
• need to understand cell division and know about the cell cycle
• need to be familiar with the concept of genetics: genes, chromosomes, mitosis, meiosis
• need to be familiar with the concept of inheritance and Mendel's principles of genetics (ex: many human traits are inherited by the action of genes that have dominant and recessive alleles).
3) What misconceptions might students hold about the topic?
• students don't understand how a genetic change can result in a phenotypic change at the protein level
• students rarely understand the importance and prevalence of protein in cells; don't understand that proteins "get made" from DNA
• don't understand the relationship between DNA, genes, and chromosomes